Teddy (film)
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''Teddy'' is a 2021 Indian
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
-language
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
written and directed by
Shakti Soundar Rajan Shakti Soundar Rajan is an Indian film director who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He is known for directing science fiction films that introduce new concepts to Tamil cinema. Career Rajan worked as an assistant director to Venkat Prab ...
. The film features a
teddy bear A teddy bear, or simply a teddy, is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. The teddy bear was named by Morris Michtom after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt; it was developed apparently simultaneously in the first deca ...
in the title role, along with
Arya ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''),Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood i ...
,
Sayyeshaa Sayyeshaa Saigal (born 12 August 1997), known mononymously as Sayyeshaa, is an Indian actress who primarily works in Tamil cinema, Tamil films. She made her acting debut with the Telugu film ''Akhil (film), Akhil'' (2015), for which she receive ...
,
Sathish Sathish Muthukrishnan (born 23 May 1987) is an Indian actor and comedian working in the Tamil cinema. He made a breakthrough portraying a role alongside Sivakarthikeyan in '' Ethir Neechal'' (2013). He won Edison Award for Best Comedian for h ...
, Karunakaran and
Magizh Thirumeni Magizh Thirumeni (born 9 October 1978), is an Indian film director, screenwriter, dubbing artist and actor who works primarily in Tamil cinema. After working as an assistant to directors Selvaraghavan and Gautham Vasudev Menon, he directed six ...
. The soundtrack and film score were composed by
D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film music composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. His first film as music director was ''Thamizhan'' in 2002. Since then he has comp ...
and produced by K. E. Gnanavel Raja under his production banner
Studio Green Studio Green is an Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai. The company was founded in 2006 by K. E. Gnanavel Raja, relative of actor Sivakumar and many of their films feature his sons Suriya and Karthi. They have pr ...
. ''Teddy'' is the first Tamil film to use an Indian animation company to design a special animated character and the second motion-capture film in
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
after ''
Kochadaiiyaan ''Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language animated period action film written by K. S. Ravikumar and directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth. It is India's first photorealistic motion capture film, featuring characters wh ...
'' (2014). The film was released worldwide on 12 March 2021 on
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and received mixed reviews from critics. The basic plotline was reused in the film ''
Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) * Buddy Cage (1946–2020), American pedal steel guitarist, member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage *Buddy Holly (1936–1959), artistic ...
'' in Telugu with E. B. Gokulan reprising his role.


Plot

Srividya Purushottaman, alias Sri, is a college student, who helps a person who had been in an accident and in the process, gets her hand injured. She is sent to a hospital where she is given IV drugs to cause an artificially induced coma. Sri awakens and is given the medicine and her soul gets transferred to a
teddy bear A teddy bear, or simply a teddy, is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. The teddy bear was named by Morris Michtom after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt; it was developed apparently simultaneously in the first deca ...
. Shivanarayanan, aka Shiva, is an unemployed graduate, who has
eidetic memory Eidetic memory ( ), also known as photographic memory and total recall, is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''photogr ...
and OCD which makes him learn things faster. After his mother, Lakshmi and his friend take him to meet Dr. Priya Gopal, who is a
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...
, for a session, but to no avail. One night, Shiva saves a teenager from goons, and Sri (whose soul is in the teddy bear) witnesses the fight and meets him in the morning. Shiva first believes it to be a dream, but soon understands that it's real. Sri tells Shiva that she needs to see her boyfriend Rishi, where Sri and Shiva realize that Rishi is a fraud and Sri gets heart broken. After Shiva and his friend Ramachandran take Srividya to her house, he sees Sri's father Purushottaman trying to commit suicide, Shiva saves him and her mother requests them to find her. Shiva promises to find Srividya. Shiva and Sri investigate to find her body, which was transferred from the hospital. Shiva sends Sri as a package with a
barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, Machine-readable data, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly ref ...
from the hospital and also gives her a smartphone to track the location where the parcel will be sent. The parcel reaches the destination, which turns out to be
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
where Sri uses a phone of a beggar and takes a selfie in front of a restaurant and sends it to Shiva through
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. Shiva sells all the shares for expenses and travels to Azerbaijan. While traveling, he meets Karthik, who has been working in Azerbaijan for three years. Shiva and Sri unite and it makes Karthik believe the story divulged by Shiva. They decided to search for Sri's body in one of the brothel in the place. Sri found the same tattoo that she saw in the hands of the parcel deliverer. Deducing the clues given by the person, Shiva realized about the huge medical scam and deduced that they had kidnapped Sri for her rare-blood type which is used to cure billionaires. The mastermind behind the scam is Dr. Varadharajan, who runs an illegal organ scam. He injects many people to induce coma and remove their organs. Shiva and Sri seek the help of the police, where they legally solve the case. Sri becomes conscious, while the soul in the Teddy leaves. Sri can't remember Shiva and his hardwork to save her. They arrive back to India and Sri reunites with her parents. One year later, Sri starts following Shiva and takes pictures of him, as she developed unconditional feelings for him. Shiva reciprocates his feelings, and they get married and lead a happy life. Shiva realizes that when Sri falls asleep, her soul gets transferred back to the teddy.


Cast


Production

The film was announced by
Shakti Soundar Rajan Shakti Soundar Rajan is an Indian film director who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He is known for directing science fiction films that introduce new concepts to Tamil cinema. Career Rajan worked as an assistant director to Venkat Prab ...
in March 2019 which also marked his fifth directorial venture and maiden collaboration with actor Arya. The
principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
of the film commenced in May 2019.
Sakshi Agarwal Sakshi Agarwal (born 20 July 1990) is an Indian actress and model who has appeared in Tamil films. After beginning her working career as a marketing consultant, she pursued acting and garnered attention through part time modelling commitments. ...
was approached to play a supporting role after participating in the reality TV show ''
Bigg Boss Tamil 3 ''Bigg Boss 3'' is the third season of the Tamil-Indian reality show ''Bigg Boss'', which premiered on Star Vijay on 23 June 2019 until 6 October 2019. Frooti was the sponsor for the third season. Kamal Haasan returned as host for the third time ...
''.
Magizh Thirumeni Magizh Thirumeni (born 9 October 1978), is an Indian film director, screenwriter, dubbing artist and actor who works primarily in Tamil cinema. After working as an assistant to directors Selvaraghavan and Gautham Vasudev Menon, he directed six ...
who was known for his directorial venture ''
Thadam ''Thadam'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film written and directed by Magizh Thirumeni. Produced by Inder Kumar, the film stars Arun Vijay in a dual role along with Vidya Pradeep, Tanya Hope, and Smruthi Venkat. The music wa ...
'' was cast to play a supporting role which also marked his acting debut. The theme of the film revolves around the special character
Teddy Bear A teddy bear, or simply a teddy, is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. The teddy bear was named by Morris Michtom after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt; it was developed apparently simultaneously in the first deca ...
in animation which would appear for nearly 80 minutes of the film. The film was predominantly shot in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
and in a few locations across
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. The shooting portion of the film was wrapped up in February 2020. In June 2020, Thirumeni confirmed the film would proceed with a theatrical release, despite rumours that they were exploring an
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release.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed by
D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film music composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. His first film as music director was ''Thamizhan'' in 2002. Since then he has comp ...
, continuing his collaboration with the director for the third time after ''
Miruthan ''Miruthan'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action horror film written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan, starring Ravi Mohan (credited as Jayam Ravi), Lakshmi Menon, Anikha Surendran and Kaali Venkat. D. Imman composed the music, while ...
'' (2016) and '' Tik Tik Tik'' (2018). The lyrics are written by
Madhan Karky Madhan Karky Vairamuthu is an Indian lyricist, screenwriter, research associate, software engineer, and entrepreneur. A holder of a doctorate in computer science from the University of Queensland, Karky began his professional career as an as ...
. The first single ''En Iniya Thanimaye'' which was sung by
Sid Sriram Sidharth Sriram (born 19 May 1990) is an Indian Carnatic musician, music producer, playback singer. He is an R&B songwriter and has been working in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and English music industry. He regul ...
was released on 14 February 2020 coinciding with the
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...
. Later the video song of "En Iniya Thanimaye" was released on 1 March 2021.


Release

''Teddy'' was scheduled to release on 24 April 2020, but was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in India. The film was released worldwide via
Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...
on 12 March 2021.


Reception

Baradwaj Rangan Baradwaj Rangan () is an Indian film critic and writer. A chemical engineering graduate with no formal training in filmmaking or cinema writing, he has a diverse career in advertising, IT consulting, and cinema writing. He has authored two boo ...
of ''
Film Companion South Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-defunct digital platform Film Compani ...
'' wrote, "Tamil cinema's high-concept king, Shakti Soundar Rajan, takes a tumble with this story about a giant talking bear."


References


External links

* {{Teddy bears Films scored by D. Imman Films shot in Chennai Films shot in Europe Films shot in Tamil Nadu Films using motion capture Indian films with live action and animation Disney+ Hotstar original films 2020s fantasy action films category:Tamil films remade in other languages Indian fantasy action films Films about obsessive–compulsive disorder 2020s Tamil-language films 2020s Indian films Films about bears